Pope tore his hamstring and will need six to eight weeks of recovery time. Young suffered a ruptured disk in his neck. The Broncos will know in a month if he'll need surgery.

Both players were put on injured reserve. The Broncos have a staggering seven tailbacks on injured reserve.

"I would say you were completely nuts if you said we were going to go through seven or eight running backs," coach Mike Shanahan said.

The Broncos signed Cory Boyd off the practice squad and will sign free agent Alex Haynes, Shanahan said. Haynes spent about two weeks with the Broncos in November before he was cut.

Boyd was signed off the practice squad two weeks ago before Denver played Carolina, but the team decided he wasn't ready. He was inactive against the Panthers, then released and signed back to the practice squad.

"(The coaches) said I had some things to work on," Boyd said. "I just did that. They wanted to see hunger still from the same guy that was on the practice squad. That's what I try to do."